A little bit about Ethan

     Aside from the technical difficulties I've been having with my computer this past week, it's taken me longer than I expected to write about this experience. I reached the conclusion that I don't think I can adequately put into words the feelings that I came away with from Ethan's funeral. All I can do is touch on it.

     Life is really pretty wonderful, when you think about it. I'm realizing more and more that it's because of the people I have the privilege to either live with or come in contact with or observe. It's not a coincidence that our lives cross paths and through that intersection we have a chance to experience some things together that have a lasting impression on me. Sometimes you meet people, families that just leave their mark and this family, above, continues to do that for me. When it's all said and done, they will say good-bye prematurely to all four of their boys. Three will leave this earth life early due to muscular distrophy. The other one, Ben, from an accident while serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 2005. 

     Last Friday, I had the privilege of attending Ethan's funeral. It was an uplifting experience. I was so touched by it and filled from the experience that afterwards I had what I call a "spiritual headache". It's the kind of headache I don't mind having. :-) So, I just wanted to share just some of the things that I came away with from Ethan's funeral. It's impossible to cover it completely. Even if you didn't know him, I wish you could've been there. 

1.  Tender Mercies are all around us. Ethan was granted one at the very end of his life. He died peacefully in his sleep, which he wanted. He was 25.

2.  Live a full life and take the time to make memories. Ethan had opportunities to live all over the world with his family and together they had some great adventures. 

3.  Make service a part of your life. Ethan did not allow his physical limitations to keep him from doing this in many ways, one of which was serving a 2 year family history mission.

4.  Have a good sense of humor. Ethan and his family are great examples of this.

5.  Have fun.

6.  Endure to the end  and look forward with a brightness of hope. Ethan was so looking forward to seeing his brother Ben again. This was evidenced by the story Cory told of them searching for a password on Ethan's computer. When they finally found it, it was "imissben'. 

Of course there were tears at Ethan's funeral, but there was also plenty of laughter and smiles. It really did feel like a celebration. Ethan  had a hand in it's planning and I think he got it just right. For Ethan, there was plenty to celebrate. He was going home and Ben would be there waiting for him. By Great Design: Families truly are Forever.

I Walked

 by

Cory Ellsworth 

A thousand dreams and maybe two

And some might think that none of them have yet come true

It isn't so. It seems to me

That life is more than bucket lists I've come to see

I walked alone, and even ran (well, kind of)

I stood and fell, and stood again, just like a man

So thankful for the peace I've known

And for the precious loving ones I call my own

I saw this life through my own lens

It wasn't bad, and not so sad, and now it ends

With few regrets and fewer fears

I'll miss you both, I'll see you soon, now dry your tears

Good-bye for now, you precious one

Oh what a gift to have and hold you as our son

We seal you up to God above

And send you there with loving care and all our love

Cory wrote this for Ethan, expressing how Ethan was feeling shortly before he passed away, the last stanza bidding farewell to their beloved son. Thank you, Cory and Amy and your great family, for allowing me to share this. We love you. 

Ethan Joseph Ellsworth

March 15, 1983-January 17, 2009

Boyz, Haircutz & One Doggie Bath

I love when the boys ask me for haircuts. It was Jon-Erik and Ben's turn this last time. I was on a roll, so I thought I would trim Annie, our dog, as well. She did NOT think that was a good idea, so she just got a bath instead. She REALLY needed it! So here you go with some before and after and in Annie's case, during.

First, Jon-Erik:

Next, Ben:

We decided to go with the 'comb over', just like when he was little, for the after. :-)

Annie's experience wasn't so much a visual one as it was an olfactory one, although

she does look pretty funny in the 3rd one down.

We're just getting started.

Ahhh, Annie...you smell so good! Now if I could just trim your bangs a little.

Salsa recipe

     I first tasted this salsa at our block party last fall and fell in LOVE with it. In fact I kind of hovered around the food table as the party was wrapping up and noticed that the owner of the salsa had already left, so I gladly took home her leftovers (I'm not kidding when I say I have a thing for food...I will go to embarrassing lengths sometimes to get it, keep it, hide it...whatever. I admit I have a problem. Maybe if I joke about it, it won't seem like such a big deal).  I finally got the recipe from Venice, my good neighbor and now my refrigerator is hardly ever without a jar of this salsa. The recipe fits perfectly in a quart jar with some to enjoy right away.

     I call it Venice's Salsa Recipe, since I got it from her. It is not spicy, but you can spice it up with a little jalapeno pepper, if you want to.

Venice's Salsa Recipe

2 cans Mexican Stewed tomatoes

1 can chopped green chiles

1 bunch chopped green onions, I will sometimes use red onions if I have them.

1/2 bunch chopped cilantro (more or less, depending on your taste for cilantro)

1 clove garlic,  chopped

1 fresh tomato (This is my addition to Venice's recipe)

1 tsp. cumin

2 T. sugar

1 tsp. salt, pepper to taste

Juice of 1-2 limes, depending on size

Best part: Put it all in your blender with fresh ingredients on the bottom and turn on your blender until it's mixed, but not overly mixed and pure'ed, but it's pretty thin. This is not a chunky salsa. That's it. The Mexican stewed tomatoes are sometimes hard to find, but I can almost always find them at Fry's. Thank you, Venice.

Mesa Historical Museum Annual Home Tour 2009

Mesa has cozy little events that promote it's history or just make you feel connected to the community. Mesa Historical Museum's Annual Home Tour is one of the things that I enjoy every year. It's coming up this Saturday, the 24th. If you haven't gone before, it's a lot of fun. They've asked me to photograph the homes for their brochure. I'll be their on Evergreen St. capturing the day and  post some of the fun afterwards. Don't you ever wonder what some of those cute little historic homes look like on the inside? Stop wondering and come on down and find out for yourself. You know me and food...well, the lunch at RigaTony's was always de-lish. 

Mark your calendar for this year's historic home tour: 

Saturday, January 24, 2009 -- 10:00am to 4:00pm

This year's tour will feature some beautiful historic homes in the 

Evergreen Historic District of Mesa.

Tickets will be $25, and include admission to the historic homes, the Mesa Historical Museum, and a complimentary lunch at 

Maredeneley's Italiam Bistro (formerly RigaTonys)

Here are just some of the homes that will be on the tour:

Hope to see you there!

Hiking Camelback Mountain

We decided to hike Camelback Mountain on New Year's Day. We got there around 2 p.m.-ish. We were definitely not alone on the mountain. Brian was kind enough to get in line to park and let the rest of us start hiking. We went in two groups: Jon-Erik, Benjamin, Adam and then Emma and me. It was a perfect afternoon for some local hiking! 

Here we are, just starting out.

Do you notice the tiny people towards the bottom left of this photo? Just to give you some perspective. The entire hike is only about 1 1/4 mile up to the top and takes anywhere from 45-60 minutes if you are in average shape. The boys made it up in less time.

Don't let this scare you. There are handrails to help you climb.

You get rewarded along the way with the views and interesting things to look at, people to greet. ("Mom, stop talking to strangers!")

Does anyone else see a dog here? Or a nose, or something? 

This is a really ancient looking cactus about halfway up. It looks so hammered and yet there it stands, stoically marking the path. Since I'm taking a photoshop class this semester, I've decided to start collecting textures and this cactus has the most "tree-like" looking trunk texture. I think this is what a wrinkled cactus looks like.

We also ran into Jon-Erik and the boys around here on their way down.

(A little bright, but it was the only picture I had of them and poor Brian got nothing!)

Emma and I finally made it. Waiting for us up at the top were 24 people, 5 butterflies and another festively decorated tree (really a bush).

I know this is smog, but it made for a beautiful additiont to the sun skimming across this section of Phoenix in the late afternoon.

I should mention that Emma and I met Brian just as we were leaving the top. We waited for him to touch the top and then we hiked down together. I just love this hike! I'm up for it any time, just give me a call and 'Let's Go!' :-)

Cousins!

So, we did get fed at James and Christine's after our hike up Shaw Butte Mountain. Thank you!! All the Flink cousins were there (there are 9, with 1 on the way) along with their parents. It was fun seeing the cousins play together and enjoy each other's company. Olivia and Ella bonded in Olivia's cool inflatable bouncie toy. Unfortunately I exceeded the weight limit, so I could only stand on the outside and look in. It is so much fun to have these little people in our lives. I just can't squeeze 'em enough!

Olivia had to take a break for some refreshment. She's acting like she's contemplating what to pick, but she knew exactly what she was looking for.

Ahh...there they are...the cookies.

Christine's parents get to spend about 4 months out of the year here, now that they're both retired. This is Floyd with my dad.

Meanwhile, back at our house, Hannah and Emma came up with all kinds of things to keep themselves entertained. Here they are working on a song/dance performance for us of "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

I think this was 'Five Golden Rings'.

I normally don't do blurry pictures, but there was something about this one that I liked, so it made the cut. This one had a little essence of joy about it.

All good things must come to an end...at least this visit from the CA cousins. Time to say good-bye for this time. We're already looking forward to the next time. We can't help that we just love you so much!! :-)

Ella convinces me every time that whatever age she is is the perfect age. We're all big Ella fans.

We're still making up for lost time, when the CA cousins lived in Sweden. Now that was TOO far away. Come back soon!

Be A.W.A.R.E.

(Sorry, no pedicure or even lotion or anything to make them look better!)

I get some of my best blog ideas (to me) when I'm running, or sometimes in the shower. One of those ideas or thoughts that came to me recently was about the word 'stress'.  Did you ever notice that 'stress' is in the word 'desserts' , but backwards?! Kind of sneaky, just like the pounds that seem to creep back on when I feed my stress with food? They seem to go hand in hand lately for me. Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE food. I like good food as much as I like junk food. Lately (as in the last several months!...maybe longer) I've just been eating WAY TOO much of both. This has had an adverse effect on my wardrobe (Oooo...too tight!), so I decided to get back to what I know works and that is where my second great idea came in. I started thinking about my success with Weight Watchers 3 years ago and what I learned from that experience. That's how I came up with 'Be A.W.A.R.E.'

Be

A.- ACCEPT that it's going to take time to turn it around. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither where my thighs. Also ACCEPT your/my body type.

 

W.- WATER...Drink plenty of it every single day. Stay hydrated. Especially hard for me most of the time, but especially in the winter. Sometimes I get creeped out thinking about how little I hydrate myself. I deserve to look like a prune!

A.-ACCOUNTABILITY...This is a must. This is where our friend, a good scale comes in, but only weigh  once a week. No more. Preferrably on the same day. With clothes and a heavy coat the first week, naked the second week. You'll notice results right away. It's a weighing trick some of the ladies I met at WW taught me my first week there. Then keep track of you progress.

R.-REALITY CHECK...You can want to change and even think you are going to do it, but if you aren't living in reality and write down what you eat, you'll be in the dark about what you're really taking in. This was the one thing that really helped me the most and will help me again to get back on track. Pretty soon, writing down what I ate made me more aware of my consumption and made me want to stay within my allotment every day, and look forward to eating my bonus points every week.  I even looked forward to weighing in.

 

E.-EXERCISE...Another must for my mental well being  as well as just the physical benefits...plus, (bonus: I can eat more when I exercise) I read a great little book on this whole general subject called, "Running with Angels" I highly recommend it. My running started the Monday after Christmas. 

So there you have it. My invitation to anyone else who wants to join me in Being  more A.W.A.R.E. in 2009 :-)

By the way, I came home from my run and ate two chocolate chip cookies. Mmm. 

Living in reality. 

Hiking Shaw Butte Mountain

The only thing that's really noteworthy about Shaw Butte Mountain is that it is the little mountain that I could see from the house that I grew up in in North Phoenix. It's a nice little hike that anyone can enjoy, not too strenuous, no climbing involved...well, you climb in elevation, but not with your hands AND your feet like Camelback Mountain, just your feet. Pretty relaxing as far as hikes go. On the day after Christmas several of us hiked to the top.

My brother, Andy with Hannah. Andy lived in Sweden for 18 years after he graduated from the U of A. He and his family moved to CA two years ago. We love having them closer. Having been away that many years, Andy is very nostalgic about this area. This is Andy's fake serious face.

One of the things I like about hiking around Christmas is that you find little holiday reminders along the way. Isn't this a cute Santa?

One of many ornaments decorating this big bush.

Not afraid of us.

As we approached the top, my brother James leans over to me and quietly says, "Watch Andy, he's going to go stand near that edge over there, hold his arms out, and say, "Mi Bario"". So I have my camera ready, waiting to see if it happens. As soon as we get to the top, Andy walks over to the appointed place and does exactly as James said he would. He does it EVERY time we hike this mountain. I love this photo of him proclaiming his love for his "Barrio".

My brothers. They're great. I'm so lucky. They make me laugh.

Emma and Hannah at the top. The rest of them made it to the top before we did, so I never had a chance to document their climb.

On our way down. Can you tell which one is me?

This is Arizona. It has it's charm, doesn't it? I actually thought of my friend, Meg, when I later looked at the saguaro. Doesn't it look like a peace sign? Come on, take your right hand and do the peace sign with your palm facing you. Can you see it?! I can see it. I bet Meg can, too. :-) Next stop: Pizza over at James' and Christine's house. We had worked up a little appetite.